Can we really do without coal
canada goose deals LONDON (Reuters) Two thirds of the world already discovered reserves of oil, coal and natural gas must remain unburned if the canada goose uk outlet rise in average global temperatures is to be limited to 2 degrees Celsius by 2050, according to the International Energy Agency.
Canada Goose online A worker sits on a truck as he waits for the loading of coal at a canadian goose jacket railway coal yard on the outskirts of Ahmedabad November 25, 2013. REUTERS/Amit Dave/Files
canada goose But coal miners and oil and gas companies round canada goose uk black friday the world allocated $674 billion to finding even more reserves and new ways of extracting them in 2012/13. Much of this investment risks being wasted, according to the Carbon Tracker Initiative, which is campaigning to get investors to think again. ( carbon 2013: wasted assets and stranded capital
is possible that much of this additional spending would prove fruitless. At worst, these assets might be forever, Martin Wolf, the celebrated chief economics commentator of the Financial Times, wrote in a sympathetic review recently. ( climate fix would ruin investors June 17)
canada goose coats on sale Carbon Tracker Initiative is part of a broader divestment movement canada goose coats pressing universities, pension funds Canada Goose Coats On Sale and other socially responsible investors to boycott shares and loans in fossil fuel companies to Canada Goose Online force them to leave canada goose clearance sale the oil, gas and coal there ( assets and the fossil fuel divestment campaign: what does divestment mean for the valuation of fossil fuel assets? Oct 2013)
The canada goose store divestment campaign has drawn a swift canada goose uk shop response. Major oil and gas companies such as Exxon and Shell reject the claim that their exploration and development spending canada goose is being wasted. do not believe that any of our proven reserves will become stranded, Shell wrote in a letter to investors on May 16.
the stranded asset notion may appear to be a strong and thought through case, it does have some fundamental flaws, and there is a risk that Canada Goose Jackets some interest groups use it to trivialize the important societal issue of rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the company complained in a detailed response.
Canada Goose sale GAMBLING ON INACTION There is an obvious buy canada goose jacket cheap inconsistency between companies continuing to invest in developing more fossil fuels while governments maintain they are still committed to the 2 degree target.
According to Wolf: will have to give: either the world will abandon its pledge to keep emissions below the level thought to produce a temperature rise of 2C, or the fossil fuel companies are holding stranded assets and investing in unusable ones. Investors are implicitly betting on the cheap Canada Goose former possibility.
canada goose black friday sale He concluded: energy producers do not believe governments will do what they uk canada goose promise. They envisage a very different and quite unrevolutionary energy buy canada goose jacket future in which the reserves they now possess and canada goose clearance those they plan to develop will all be burnt.
Canada Goose Parka Wolf is right about the contradiction between investment policies and climate targets. It is more likely the world will miss the 2 degree target than that fossil fuel reserves will be stranded.
Canada Goose Outlet PUTTING COAL BEYOND USE Rather than oil or gas, the primary target of the divestment campaign canada goose black friday sale is coal, which emits far more carbon dioxide when burned for electricity production.
canada goose coats companies appear far cheap canada goose uk more vulnerable than oil and gas, according to researchers at Oxford University Stranded Assets Programme. not only contributes to climate change but also releases harmful pollutants with short term and Canada Goose Outlet visible, health and environmental consequences.
In the first phase of the divestment process, concerned investors are likely to begin by liquidating their holdings in coal companies, the Oxford researchers explain, before moving on later to oil and gas producers. universities and European pension funds have already sold their shares in coal companies.
If the total amount of carbon that can be burned in the next few decades is constrained by an overall budget and
canada goose clearance coal is the most polluting fossil fuel, it might seem to make sense to put coal reserves off limits first.
Some of the big oil and gas companies have quietly supported this idea, hoping to replace dirty coal with clean burning gas and bump up demand for their own products in the process.
canada goose clearance sale The unspoken alliance of climate https://www.canadagoosesale.biz campaigners and gas companies appears to have convinced the Obama administration. regulations on power plants at home. Treasury has stated it will not provide canada goose coats on sale financial support for any new coal fired plants in poor countries. positions on multilateral development Canada Goose online banks engaging with developing countries on coal fired power generation Oct 2013)
canada goose store COAL REMAINS INDISPENSABLE The stigmatization campaign against coal, in the words of the Oxford researchers, is already well underway and has canada goose factory sale notched up some notable early successes.
cheap Canada Goose Recent successes in developing shale gas and oil have led some campaigners to imply the world could do without coal.
But the effort to put coal off limits is doomed to fail. Coal resources will remain an essential part of the energy mix far into the future.
buy canada goose jacket cheap Coal accounts for roughly a third of known fossil fuel resources (excluding highly unconventional resources such as methane hydrates which are unlikely to be developed in any foreseeable timeframe).
Gas and oil appear much more abundant than before thanks to the shale revolution. But they would start to look scarce again if Canada Goose sale coal was put off limits and the entire power generation sector switched to gas.
buy canada goose jacket On a global scale, switching entirely from coal to gas would put uk canada goose outlet a tremendous canadagoosesale.biz strain on gas supplies and push prices sharply higher. It would be a windfall for gas companies but not for everyone else.
Coal also has important benefits for energy security. Coal reserves are much more widely distributed around the world than the other fossil fuels. Major developing economies with fast growing energy demand, including China and India, have abundant coal resources but relatively Canada Goose Parka little oil and gas.
Canada Goose Jackets Shale oil and gas could change that calculation, since they are more widely distributed than conventional oil and gas, but their widespread development still lies in the future.
